The Unification Wars
by The unification Documentaries
Summary: Tiberius Domitian, Thunder Warrior of the Emperor's Proto-Astartes, crusades across Terra attempting to bring an end to the Age of Strife and bring all of Terra's techno-Barbarian tribes under the rule of the Emperor and unify humanity into the Imperium.
1. Chapter 1

This is an account, true if it were happening right this second, of how the world came to be unified under the Emperor of mankind, beloved by all.

The Age of Strife is at last coming to an end, and a single ruler has pronounced himself. The Emperor. The creator of the Adeptus Astartes currently manned solely by Proto-Astartes in the glorious new creation of Mark I thunder armour they tower over normal men like demi-gods. Not the emperor though; a demi-god in his own right who seeks nothing but to reunify his brethren under a single banner, that of the imperium.

And so man waged war upon itself, and the Unification wars began. Brother fought brother, father fought son, all to save their false ideologies of Gods and Daemons and spirits. The Emperor, beloved by all, has shown us his guiding light and now all that is left is for the rest of mankind to allow him to embrace them.

I am Tiberius Domitian, one of the very first Proto-Astartes; I am the Emperors torch bearer, a member of the Thunder Warriors- the original Adeptus Astartes. I fought with Him until the very end of the wars, and this is my story.

I joined the war during the battle against the Techno-barbarian state of Franc, the Battle for, what was known in the old-world as, Paris. Oh it was a glorious day.

"Get moving Maggot!" bellowed my superior officer. I didn't regard him too kindly, he irritated me and that was the last thing I wanted to be as I leapt out the back of the transport. The second my feet hit the ground I was met by the sound of rifle rounds that whizzed past my head and suddenly my gene enhance adrenaline was pumping. _Pathetic_ I thought to myself as on the rounds pinged off my shoulder plate. My visor picked out multiple targets, and highlighted them in red. In the blink of an eye my bolter was raised and two of the targets burst into clouds of red mist. Four more thunder warriors followed me out the transport before it chugged into life and raced off to get the next wave of reinforcements. Like we'd need them.

The battle field was immense. Ramparts of sand bags and broken walls made up the first line of defence, small heavy weapons teams with heavy machine gun weaponry sat atop these ramparts, spraying bullets down into the legions of Astartes charging there poorly made encampments. Behind that were walls, giant black walls made from what looked like onyx that towered so high they looked as if they were brushing away the clouds from the sky. At regular intervals along these walls were gaps to allow troops and armour through them although most were filled with barbed wire and iron blockades. Nothing an Astartes couldn't handle.

A cry issued from somewhere amongst the dug in Thunder Warriors around me. "For the Emperor!" the voice bellowed, followed swiftly by reply shouts of the like, I followed suit. We charged the dug in rebels of Franc with such force it was no wonder that by the time we reached them over half had routed or were dead.

"Draw Swords!" A captain shouted somewhere amongst the ranks. As I bounded over one of the ramparts, my power sword slid smoothly out of it's sheathe and hummed into life. My gaze turned to the closest rebel, who raised his rifle and emptied a clip onto my armour, and it did little more than scratch the surface. I laughed at him, my voice booming like a cannon and I'm fairly sure the rebel crapped himself right before I cleaved him in two. The battle was starting to get going now, and my blood was boiling in veins, lusting after another kill. So I satiated it by spinning around slicing a rebel's head clear of his shoulders with a quick strike.

The bulk of my force was moving forward now, having made our way into the walls, towards an area where supposedly a great tower had once stood, but now was a major rebel encampment. The city on the inside was a shambles. It was clear it had once been an incredibly large Hab-site, with tall building stretching to almost as high as the walls themselves and many smaller ones surrounding them, but most of the building were in heaps of rubble; some old from when the techno-barbarians were fighting for control some new from our own bombardments prior to the invasion. Weeds were starting to grow out of the old rubble heaps adding a small dash of colour to the barren grey coloured ground and the uniform cream coloured buildings. The rebel encampment itself was fairly well made, I had to admit. A stone grey bunker that was only just visible above the soil and surrounded by sand bags to prevent any frag shrapnel from finding its way inside, surrounded by trenches and small blocks of walls to act as cover for any rebels just leaving the base. It was, in essence, a small fortress. Atop the fortress, though, was a flag; striped blue, then white, then red vertically along it. It flapped in the wind shuddering slightly when the ground trembled from an artillery round landing somewhere in the war zone. It instantly became my target as I knew that this is what gave the rebels a small lick of hope; that the symbol of their rebellion still stood firm.

I roared with delight as I hacked blasted my way through the rebel forces that stood in my way, bolt and steel decimating the rebel's forces faster than leaves falling from a tree. Terra that was a glorious blood bath. Rifle rounds were soaring past my head and clanging on my armour at such a rate that they were starting to irritate me, as gnats do in your sleep. I looked around and eventually saw a small gun emplacement, two humans with a regular sized machine gun surrounded by sand bags, and bounded off towards it. I heard one of them shout and they suddenly stood up and began to run, which annoyed me as it would have been far more fun to kill them up close, so I raised my bolter and shot them. One of them lost his head, the bolt punching clean through his skull showering brain fragments in all directions, while the other one had a large chunk of his left side taken out, spraying blood and sinew everywhere.

As I continued to charge the rebels base camp and slice down opponents that got in my way, I suddenly heard a familiar voice over the Vox link.

"Tiberius! Ten Aquilas for the man who gets the highest count on this field?" My friend Julianos chuckled, clearly enjoying himself as much as I was.

"I'll take that bet, Julianos, I'm on 20 as is," I replied over vox. More booming laughter ensued, crackled and inhumane sounding by the bad vox link.

"Oh Tiberius, how much you have to learn about me, I'm on thirty my dear boy." He replied. I wouldn't let this happen; there was always a sense of sibling rivalry between me and Julianos, being from the same gene-seed. I would not let him win this bet, he had won two in a row so far, but not this time, I could tell I was going to do well.

Just ahead of me was trench, and lines of soldiers with some surprisingly advanced weaponry, plasma rifles, lascannons, and other old world tech, blasting away whilst being safely tucked with the majority of them tucked away below the lip of the trench. This would be a nice addition to my count.

A rebel ran up to me, with what looked from my perspective to be a butter knife, as I stormed towards the trench. I did not break stride, merely trampled him under foot. As I grew closer to the trench I raised my bolter and switched it to full auto and sprayed the heads at the brim of the trench, not wanting to get cut down by a lascannon blast. Two heads shattered as my suppressive fire caught them quite by accident and the rest of the group got the message and ducked down. I pulled a frag off my belt and marvelled at how something no bigger than an apple in my hand could take out multiple opponents, but the time for marvelling was later. I primed the frag and tossed it into the trench and watched as a few stray limbs jumped up into the air after a fairly large explosion, obviously amplified by the size of the trench.

I bounded down into the trench, and counted the casualties from the blast; four, a nice addition to my total. A rifle round pinged of the back of my helmet the force of it caused my head to get knocked forwards slightly. It irritated me to no end when a mortal thought they could take out a Thunder Warrior with such ease. I turned sharply and grasped the small man's head in my hands, and squeezed relishing the screams until his head exploded like a coconut under a mallet, at which point the rest of his carcass slipped from my grip. A small squad came round the corner of the trench and dropped down into firing positions, two standing in the rear rank and two crouching at the front rank, and unleashed a hail of bullets down the trench. I stumbled a bit under the combined force of all the bullets hitting me, but then regained my footing and brace myself into the storm, as if it were nothing more than a strong gust of wind. Then I raised my bolter and returned fire, shredding the four rebels at the end of the trench to ribbons. One of them was cleaved clean in half by the bolter rounds.

Sprinting round the corner of the trench the Franc rebel's flag came into clear view. I decided I would take personal pride in taking it down myself.

"Julianos, feel like upping the wager a bit? An extra 10 Aquilas for the man who captures the flag," I voxed him. No reply.

"Julianos, respond!" I sent out again. His vox couldn't be down, there was no way that they had dampening technology in a base this size. Then a crackle and string of curse words.

"Tiberius! The… everywhere… too many of the bastards…. Need immediate assistance!" his reply eventually came through. His locator beacon blipped up on my visor's HUD and I sprinted away as fast as my feet would carry me, bolting down the occasional rebel en route. I rounded a corner, annoyed by the densely built up city I was in, and saw Julianos standing surrounded by rebels. It seemed a small mass of them had surrounded him and were trying to take him down by hacking at his legs with small combat knives. It was like watching villagers try and take down an ogre with butter knives.

I charged the mass, holstering my bolter so that I could have both hands free, not wanting to let off a round accidentally and damage my friend in the process. The throngs of bodies was so densely packed around Julianos' position that I had to physically hack my way to him, picking up and throwing the occasional rebel to one side. I eventually reached him and we went back-to-back, drawing bolters and peppering the soldiers milling around us. By the time we were finished the ground around us had turned red, and there was no whole body left in sight.

"Now that….." Julianos panted, "Was a glorious fight."

"Songs will be written about this day brother," I replied, equally as exhausted "but first we must break these damned rebels, to the flag then? That so openly insults the might of the Emperor?" Julianos nodded and we both set off sprinting to the flag.

We eventually reached the trench that I had cleared earlier and bounded over it, sprinting hard and fast towards the flag. We must have tripped a proximity alarm though because, no sooner had we landed on the other side, auto-turrets exposed themselves from hidden positions in the ground and started thumping out bolter rounds.

"COVER!" Julianos yelled, except this much was obvious. I dove behind a small ruined wall to my left, hoping it would be just thick enough to fend off the huge explosive bullets. My vox link crackled and Julianos' voice came through my helmet speakers.

From the glimpse I got of them I could tell that they were fairly new tech, gleaming polished silver with twin heavy bolter cannons strapped to them on either side of the main turret emplacement with a covered belt feed running off down underground where they were presumably being fed with ammo constantly by either machines or men.

"Well this is a right shit storm we got ourselves into!" he shouted. He was obviously panicking, intel had never said anything about them having this level of tech. Thunder armour could defend against small arms fire, and if you were lucky a high explosive missile, but not bolter rounds and certainty not at this rate. It would be challenging to say the least.

"Brother, flare them. If they're anything like the ones we have the work by heat not by motion," I told him over the vox link. I heard a grunt in reply; what I said made sense. The bullets were still thumping out of the turrets, obviously still picking up the high body temperature of our Astartes metabolism through the thick wall. I heard a whoosh as Julianos lighted his flare and threw it over his cover.

"Now move! We have a few seconds before they realize that's too hot to be anything living so try and get round the back to their servos; damage those and the whole turret gets shut down." I ordered over vox. We both leapt up, nearly simultaneously and sprinted towards the turrets. Watching them pump rounds into the ground around the flare, and the flare leaping up into the air occasionally from exploding bolts, almost verged on amusing. Thankfully we made it behind the turrets without their sensors adjusting, yanked out the wires and servos and let them power down slowly. It was inevitable now, the flag was ours.

Setting off again, a slightly more gentle pace this time, I realised just how easy this had been and started to ponder on whether or not this was fair. But that was the human in me thinking, I was an Astartes now, the Emperors gauntlet; such thoughts were unacceptable to us.

Julianos and I reached the flag, and decided that the most appropriate thing to do would be to burn it where it was. Julianos pulled out his lighter that he had taken from an officer of one of the techno-barbarian tribe, a golden colour with a small skull protruding from it slightly, a trophy of his and one of his few personal belongings, and set the flag alight. I activated my vox-speaker and amplified my voice so that I could be heard across the battle-field.

"People of the Franc rebellion! Your flag and last symbol of hope burns, lay down your weapons and the Emperor shall have mercy on you." I boomed triumphantly. Slowly, as people realised just how pointless it was to continue the fight, the sounds of war died down. A tremendous boom of Astartes voices resounded across the battle field and filled me with pride to know that I had personally crushed the will of this rebellion. Julianos looked at me, and I could tell he was grinning.

"I'm going to need a good drink after this one brother," He said sounding suddenly sullen.


	2. Chapter 2

After the battle my regiment was given leave to explore Franc as they wished, having illuminated the rebels and brought them to full compliance in a matter of days, the area was considered safe (for the Thunder Warriors at least). Julianos and I decided to find one of the oh-so-famous Franc feed houses and indulge ourselves in some foreign delicacies before rigorous training believed of the newly conquered Franc military in order to keep the local populace in compliance.

"Do you know what I found odd Tiberius?" Julianos pondered suddenly.

"What?" I asked him, genuinely curious about the answer; it was not often that Julianos was curious about things.

"The colours of the Franc's flag were certainly odd, to say the least, Red, white and blue… Who puts that much white in a flag? A whole section of it no less?" he asked. His question was random… But I was fairly sure he had a joke in there somewhere.

"I don't know Julianos, why do they have a strip of white in their flag?" I enquired.

"Well surely, judging by what we have seen today, it is so that they can simply remove the other two colours, and are left with a clean strip of white… with which to wave around and surrender to us with!" He started laughing at that point, his booming voice echoing off the tall walls of buildings on either side of the road we were walking down.

"Clearly this is the reason brother," I replied. "We should have kept up their traditions and torn up their flag, rather than burn it."

"Oh but burning it was so much fun, Tiberius!" he practically jumped at the memory of it. "And the shock on people's faces when they saw their flag go up in flames was timeless." We laughed for a while longer, reminiscing about kills and moments in the battle until we eventually managed to find a feed house. A squat little building, stuck between two sky-scrapers with the main entrance to it at the bottom of about 3 or four steps. A loud gaggle of voices could be heard emanating from the doorway already.

As we stepped through the door the place fell silent. The people were obviously all of the same race and probably local; with ever so slightly olive skin and dark hair that both men and women alike had grown to at least shoulder height. We had not bothered to disguise ourselves in any way. Dressed in ceremonial power armour, our helms attached to our belts and our short standard cut hair blazing golden compared to the local's jet black hair. That and we were at least a meter taller than any of the other people in the house. The atmosphere instantly turned to hostile, and I was worried that the situation may have got ugly, had Julianos not suddenly straightened it out.

"Please! Friends! Continue, we are but servants to the Emperor as are you now. Regard us as brethren and not conquerors. All we have done is set you free of your false ideologies and shown you the guiding hand of the Emperor." Julianos boomed cheerfully. He had a reputation as a people pleaser and also a fantastic warrior. He was the perfect embodiment of what an Astartes should be.

The general murmur of chat kicked up again, and Julianos and I strolled into the feed house casually and found a place to sit. It was a booth against one of the walls close to the back of the house, being the size an Astartes is we had to sit on a sofa, rather than a normal human sized chair. Julianos and I had found that out in an awkward fashion, during basic training.

We had only just received our Gene-seeds, and were still getting used to our super human stature. We had gone to one of the mess halls, after being invited by some of our friends still waiting for their gene-seed. As a result, we had to go into the normal mess hall, rather than the oversized Astartes halls. As we sauntered in a cheer rose from the table that our friends were sitting around.

"Here come the huge idiots!" one of them called out and laughter erupted around the hall.

"So how does it feel to finally be an Astartes?" someone else called out.

"Odd," I replied. "I'm still getting used to being so tall, and so heavy." With Julianos and I made our way to the table and started to sit down.

"Hey are you sure that'll hold you weight Tiberius?" my friend, Andron, asked.

"Don't be foolish, Andron, of course it will." I replied and sat on the chair. At which point it promptly broke. There was clatter as the chair splintered and sections of it flew into the air, landing on the floor far away from where the chair used to be. There was an awkward moment of silence, nobody really wanting to laugh at an Astartes. Then Julianos broke the silence, his laughter boomed out of his chest, which obviously shocked him a bit too, which then caused the rest of the hall to laugh as well. Eventually I decided to laugh as well and perhaps in the process saved my self some dignity. Julianos helped me to my feet and, not wanting to test the resolve of another chair, stayed standing until training started again.

The noise in the feed house was starting to get ridiculous; as people drank more and more their tongues became looser and looser. Eventually people were dancing and singing, one or two of them tried to get us to join in, so we decided that the time had come to leave. The food in the feed house had been exquisite - just as rumours had said it would be -and the wine even more so. We tipped the bar keep an extra five Aquilas and went on our way.

As were walking down the street Julianos suddenly announced "I got 30, Tiberius, what about you?" At first I was confused not really understanding what he meant. But then I remembered our bet from the battle. A smug grin spread across my face and I told him, in an obviously condescending tone "Only 30 Julianos? You're getting old brother."

"Is that so? Well in that case what _did_ you get?" he suddenly realised that perhaps his count wasn't as impressive as he thought.

"Far more than that brother," I replied

"Well then, by the Emperor, tell me how many you got!"

"Oh no, it's far more amusing to watch you squirm, Julianos."

"That's just torturous brother. Tell me what you got, was it 50?" I shook my head. "40?" Another shake of the head.

"Oh Terra, just tell me already would you?" he laughed obviously being driven insane by the tension.

"If you insist brother; I got 35." I told him, trying to keep a dead straight face. He looked at me with a look of sheer distain. The look on his face made me think I had rapidly grown an extra head.

"35? You got _5_ more kills than I did?" he asked, obviously thinking I was joking.

"Precisely, Julianos, only 5 more, and now you owe me 10 Aquilas." I replied, calmly, trying desperately to keep a straight face. Julianos looked like he was about to explode. He knew he would never live this down, especially seeing as he was ahead of me for the majority of battle and was mocking me for that fact. Then suddenly he erupted into laughter.

"Well I suppose in that case I owe you don't I?" he laughed and handed me 10 Aquilas. I grasped them triumphantly, not expecting to have beaten him, even if by such a slim count. There wasn't much an Astartes could spend money on except for food from local feed houses, but most of us didn't bother as we could get it for free from an Astartes mess.

The rest of the day went in a fairly uneventful fashion; we met other Astartes patrolling the streets, wandered past buildings that were fast being converted into barracks for training new forces to maintain compliance, iterators and remembrancers taking in the city and learning all its secrets.

"So, Tiberius," Julianos began, starting up another quick conversation. "What do you think the Emperor will do once he joins mankind together?"

"I honestly hadn't thought much about that, Julianos, I simply assumed we would have peace." I replied. Julianos chuckled at my reply.

"You obviously didn't pay attention much during the Emperor's speeches did you?" he asked me.

"It's not that brother, in all honesty I never attended one before. I was always busy in training cells for his speeches."

"Ah but they are glorious! You must hear one; If I'm not mistaken he's making a speech shortly, where we burned the flag, I believe," and with that Julianos broke off into a run towards the square. I chuckled and matched his pace towards the square.

We arrived just as the Emperor was starting, and By Terra he was a sight. He stood, tall and proud, clad from head to toe in his own personalised Regal Power Armour; a solid gold power armour, bejewelled with rubies and emeralds. The chest plate had His signature two headed eagle carved into it, and the shoulder plates had small sculptures of the eagles placed on them. Behind his head, yet another eagle pronounced itself, as if proclaiming the Emperor's power even more so. Clasped to random points on his armour were small oaths of moment from his own combat scenarios, it was rumoured that he had kept each of his oaths clasped to his armour so that he could be reminded of how the atrocities of war truly stayed with him. It was as if he was literally emanating power in a halo around him. A golden wreath, his sign of office, was clasped to his brow, making him look the striking resemblance of an angel from old religions.

"My sons!" his voice suddenly resounded from him, as if amplified by a thousand vox speakers, and yet none could be seen. "Today is a glorious day, we have shed from these fellow men their decadent ways and brought them the truth that only the Imperium can bring." His voice was… hypnotic. It made me want to listen until the last of His Words had slipped from His lips. And how easily those words did flow, like quicksilver being poured from a cup. His voice itself commanded respect, but not in a manner that was intimidating. It was a soft as a babbling brook in some places, as sweet as honey in others and then as intoxicating as wine throughout. He talked for at least half an hour, celebrating how we had illuminated the rebellion of Franc and how quickly the local populace was brought to compliance, when suddenly he called out my name.

"Tiberius Domitian? I am told that you are the fine Astartes that finished the fight, and ordered the surrender of the Francs?" The Emperor called out. I was suddenly aware of an odd feeling. What was it? Nervousness? Perhaps. All of these eyes on me, it made sense to be nervous. But no it was stronger than that. Fear? Again, it couldn't be. We are designed not to feel fear. No, it was pride, a pride so huge that it had rooted me to the spot. The Emperor _knew_ my name and celebrated _my _achievement. _My_ victory.

"My son, don't be shy, come up here so that all these glorious people can see the man who brought an end to this conflict." The Emperor called out, his voice still smooth as velvet. A pathway suddenly cleared itself to the stage in the crowd. I stood, rooted to the spot, hardly believing that this was in fact happening to me. Julianos gave me a small shove and I snapped out of my daze. I started towards the stage and as I did a round of applause began. The closer I got to the stage, the louder the cheering, and so by the time I got to the stage people were literally whooping and shouting and cheering I even saw a few raised fists amongst the crowds. The moment I was in front of the Emperor, I dropped to one knee.

"What has been done was done so in your name, My Liege." I said, in as humble a tone as possible. The Emperor laughed and a wave of emotions passed over me in a single second, a combination of fear, pride, and a rage towards all who do not support him. He looked down at me, and then suddenly he himself dropped to one knee. I was astounded and had no idea what to do; The Emperor should never bow to any one, especially not me. He looked up at me, and then told me "you have done humanity a great service my son. Rather than let innocent blood be spilt, you chose to give them the option to surrender and as a result many lives were saved; humanity is better now thanks to your actions and so, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you." I was amazed. I was completely bewildered, by this strange turn of events. Then the Emperor stood up, and turned to the audience.

"Let it be known that this glorious son of mine has saved countless human lives, and for that he is a hero amongst you," He announced proudly, and just like that the crowd answered him with even more cheers of joy. The Emperor clapped me on the shoulder and pulled me in close, whispering to me "come to the base tent at midnight, I have things we need to discuss," and then said loudly for more the audiences benefit than mine, "go my son, continue whatever it was you were doing, and know that whatever you do The Emperor is with you, for you are now one of his Favoured Sons."

I wandered off the stage and back down towards Julianos. He had the largest grin on his face that I've ever seen.

"So… Emperor's favoured huh?" he asked, a slightly mocking grin on his face.

"So it seems; I never would have expected that." I replied. My life had been changed forever. The Emperor had pronounced me as a favoured Astartes and now had some sort of secret assignment for me. I could only imagine what it could be.

We wandered off to the Astartes base camp, and were instantly hit by a wall of Battle Brothers. At first I was confused but then, one by one, each of them placed their left hands on the right hand side of their chests, the Pro-Unity salute. Then as one they all chanted, in a chorus that sounded like the world itself was being torn apart by the Old World Weapons of Mass Destruction, "Battle Brothers, one and all, accept the Chosen amongst your ranks, and know from this day forth that the Emperor is with you, so long as this Chose One is with you. Kill For the Living. Kill for the dead and kill for the Emperor. WE ARE THE ASTARTES! WE ARE THE EMPERORS ELITE AND WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!" and then as one their fists went from their chests to straight up, and an almighty cheer that could make the earth shake resounded from all of the Astartes massed together. Then they all swarmed me, each one trying to congratulate me and clap me on the shoulder or give me a punch on the arm. It was rituals like this that set us apart from the Techno-Barbarians that we waged war on. Our spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood kept us tied together at the shoulder, and made us fight to save each brother that we stood with and each one would fight to save your life. And that is why the enemies of the Imperium could never succeed.


	3. Chapter 3

It was an odd feeling, going to see the Emperor. Not many people had been given the privilege and the only reason I knew I wasn't dreaming was the constant punches from Julianos, who also couldn't believe it. I could only recall of one person who had ever been to see the emperor in person, Arik Taranis and he was more of character from myth rather than a battle brother. I was not on the same level as Arik Taranis.

The camp was based in a forest, not too far from where the main events of the battle had taken place. It was said that the Emperor preferred woodland and rural areas to densely built up regions as it reminded him of the farmlands that he was born on. The air was moist and cold and the dirt beneath my feet was sodden causing my foot to sink slightly with every step.

As I drew closer to the camp I became increasingly aware of eyes on me; The Emperors bodyguard, the Legio Custodes. They were slightly intimidating even for a Proto-Astartes. After all they could rival us for most aspects, speed, strength and defiantly knowledge - but us Thunder Warriors work together, and all of the Legio Custodes couldn't stand against the might of the combined legions of the Astartes. They were also unbelievably arrogant pricks; always gloating to the Astartes that we had to do the field work while they had been chosen to guard the Emperor. They also got far better kit than us, all of it Gold plated right off a production line, whereas most Thunder Warrior armour was salvaged Dark Age armour.

At last I was close enough to the camp to see structures pronounce themselves. Huge tents surrounded by a rapidly put up makeshift wall, made of logs and sand bags, It reminded me of something I had seen once in a book about an Ancient empire of old earth.

The gateway to the temporary camp was grand design though, with multiple logs crossing over in a grand structure to create the Aquila hanging high above the ground. Directly underneath the Aquila, practically taking up the entire gateway, stood the Emperor himself.

"Tiberius! Come, quickly now, we don't have all night," He ordered, but did it in such a manner that made it sound like a request. I willingly obliged, doubling my pace. Once I drew close to him, he extended his arms; at first I thought it was simply a gesture of greeting, but then he surprised me. He embraced me. I was dumbfounded. It felt as if all the evil in the word had suddenly been forced from my mind, as if by simply being in his presence cast an aura of protection over me.

Once he let go he clapped me on the shoulder. It made me stagger slightly which made the Emperor laugh.

"Oh calm yourself Tiberius," he laughed. "I'm nothing too special." This comment made me laugh.

"You are the Emperor, my lord and master, off course you are special"

"I am not, as I said, anything special Tiberius. I am a father, and you are my son. I would expect you to address me with the same respect that you would a father."

"Yes, my lor-" I hesitated then said "Father." He was right; it felt much more comfortable this way. A broad grin spread across his face at the word Father.

"Yes…. Father. I like the sound of that Tiberius." He said, stroking his chin. "Anyway, down to business. You are probably wondering why I called you here." It was true, I had been wondering that but I wandered if this was the correct answer to tell him. I decided it was pointless to lie to him, as he would probably know.

"Yes father; it puzzles me why, out of all the Astartes under your command, you would summon me?" I replied, trying to be as honest as I could.

"It is because, Tiberius, you are unique." He used the word unique in a manner that made me think there was something especially special about me. Not just that it was to do with my acts at Franc, but something… else.

"You see Tiberius the Thunder Warriors, glorious as they may be, are bred purely for war," he began, sounding as if he was starting a bard's tale of old earth. "They are bred to destroy, and to conquer- not to think. Your act on the fields of Franc amazed me; an Astartes that thought tactically and with more in mind than simple destruction. It was very… different to say the least, I do believe you may be the first Astartes in the wars to seek pacification of the enemy, rather than complete annihilation." He took a deep breath, and then suddenly froze.

"It appears, Tiberius, that our meeting is going to be cut short," he said, slowly and quietly.

"I don't understand Father, what's happening?" I asked him, bewildered by his sudden change in character.

"You shall see soon enough, my son," he replied. Then he drew the Power Sword from his belt. As soon as the sound of the metal scrapping against the scabbard had finished resounding in the cool night air a voice cried out.

"Incoming!" It roared as a mortar round screamed through the air. I tackled the Emperor to the ground, shielding him from any shrapnel that may fly our way. The mortar round made contact with the ground a few meters away from us and exploded in a tremendous fireball. The explosion deafened me slightly, and the noise shook my bones, but my power armour held firm, blocking out the vast majority of any damage that could have been caused by the explosion. I stood up and reached down to help the Emperor up.

"Are you alright Father?" I asked him as he took my hand and leapt to his feet.

"I'm fine Tiberius but we must move quickly though to stop whoever this is though, surely there will be more than a single mortar round," As if in response to the emperors statement another mortar round wailed overhead, this time travelling high enough and fast enough to be of no real danger.

The emperor stayed perfectly composed, and ignited his power sword. The colour was unique, a red glow that blazed with the shimmering colours of a fire. It lit up the Emperor's face as if he were shinning himself. It was a glorious sight to see. He stood tall and proud, nearly half a head taller than I, practically emanating power. He was physical perfection and human perfection, his stature was the most proud looking in the galaxy, as resolute as an old world stronghold he stood.

"Come Tiberius; let us illuminate this last pocket of resistance together, as father and son, as Emperor and his Favoured. Let us crush them under my iron fist, and stomp them into the ground under the heel of your boot," The Emperor proclaimed, his voice dripping with power. A sense of pride overwhelmed me that he was even considering me as worthy to stand next to him in the field of battle and from that pride I suddenly bellowed at the top of my lungs, as an almost knee-jerk reaction "FOR THE EMPEROR!" and charged towards the gate to meet up with the Legio Custodes, who I was sure would be mobilising and preparing a counter-attack. The emperor chuckled quietly and started jogging along behind me.

"No, my son, for humanity." He whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

"What's going on here?" I demanded as I skidded to a halt near the base commander of the Legio Custodes. The Soldier looked at me and snorted.

"What do you think you can do Astartes?" he mocked, his voice laced with scorn at the word Astartes. "The Legio Custodes has this under control; go back to stomping on rats or whatever it is you do in your free time." I growled at him, trying hard not to punch him square in the face for questioning the power of an Astartes.

"Aww did I hurt the little Astartes?" he said, not covering up the condescending tone in his voice at all. "Is he going to try and hurt me?" I clenched and raised my fist, but just before I thrust it forward and knocked him flat on his back, I heard a voice.

"Please, children! Stop fighting, you are brothers after all," The Emperor said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "And besides, we have far more important things to worry about. So please, Herdoxitand, brief the Astartes."

The Custodian officer, who I now knew was called Herdoxitand, snapped to attention in an instant, his right hand on the left hand side of his chest in salute to the Emperor.

"Y-y-y-yes my lord," He stammered, obviously stunned by this rapid change of events. He cleared his throat and turned to me, a fire of hatred still burning in his eyes, and continued to explain the situation to me. "As far as we know, it's a barbarian tribe from somewhere close to the ravine of the old Britonnica Channel. That's only a guess though, judging by how far they must have come and how long it would have taken them to get here. They seem to have some pretty advance tech too, las-weapons of some descriptions." As soon as he finished talking another mortar round punched the ground a while away, causing the ground to shake and cause confusion to spread through the fast assembling Custodians. The emperor looked sad suddenly and I knew that he hated the prospect of having to fight more of his own race to achieve his unity; he took each battle and each death personally. To see the emperor look upset filled me with a passion to destroy this new foe.

"Herdoxitand, I'll need a small group of soldiers of either Army or Custodian Guard, as soon as I have them I will brief them on a plan to crush this tribe whilst you remain here and protect The Emperor, understood?" I ordered the Guard, relishing in the power I could now wield as an Emperors Chosen. He saluted me in the customary pro-unity manner and turned away to do my bidding, refusing to lock eyes with me or even acknowledge me verbally.

I turned and faced the Emperor, my knees turning to jelly knowing that I had just pledged to protect him. What would happen should I fail? No, that was out of the question. I would not fail.

I darted back into the camp and grabbed a holo-map of the area, pressing the activation stud the moment it was in my hand. A beam of light shot up into the air and expanded into a detailed pict-view map of the area. I dropped the projector onto the floor to give me a bird's eye view of the area and so let me plan out a counter attack more strategically. The area around the camp was a tricky landscape to plan around; hills and small dense woodland areas gave perfect ambush points to the barbarians. A small section of the Britonnica Channel could be seen up in a far corner of the map and I dropped a pin into the map just to one side of the channel as an estimate of where the barbarians were situated then, with the target in mind, I went about planning my approach and assault on the camp.

I had two options for the approach; the first was to use the hills and woods as cover, scaling the hills at every opportunity to make sure that I had the high ground for as long as possible, but then I ran the risk of ambush from the woodlands and being slaughtered on the way up the hill sides, however the only other option would be to stay close to the bottom of the hills, a run and gun approach, avoiding the woodlands all together and therefore removing the chance of ambushes. Both presented risks, and I knew that in the heat of battle neither would go according to plan, but I decided that using the woodlands for cover and dealing with the ambushes was probably the safer route.

With a plan formulated in my mind I went to see who Herdoxitand had managed to muster to help with my counter attack. As I stepped out through the tent flaps his hatred to me became all the more obvious. Standing in front of me where the most pathetic and feeble looking mortals I had ever seen. There was only about eight of them, and not one of them was over 6 feet tall, each of them was as skinny as a bean pole and one of them even had glasses on. One of them kept dropping his rifle as it was obviously far too heavy for him, and another's armour was hanging off him, dwarfing him by its sheer size in comparison to him, clearly the man inside of it was puny. They all snapped to attention as I came out the tent and one of them lost his balance from the effort of trying to do it quickly. I shook my head suddenly realising how difficult this counter attack was going to be with the pathetic resources id been given. Damn the arrogance of the Custodians.

"You men stay close to me, shoot at anything that moves and you might just survive. Let's move!" I ordered to the assembled army squad. I started jogging off towards the edge of the camp and vaulted over the low fence that surrounded it. I looked over my shoulder and had to stifle a laugh as the squad managed to flounder there way over the fence that I had practically stepped over. Almost the moment I was over the fence though, las-fire cracked from a nearby hill top. I darted into a crater in the ground made by a mortar and drew my bolt pistol. It would have been far more preferable to have my regular bolter with me, but I had been going to see the Emperor and had assumed I wouldn't have needed it. Obviously I was wrong. The hole wasn't providing any level of decent cover and las-rounds were still landing dangerously close to me, so I decided it was time to go on the assault. I leapt over the prow of the hole, raising my bolt pistol, grasping it firmly with two hands; I let off two rounds into the crowd of enemy soldiers assembled on top of the hill. It barked loudly and bucked in my hands. One of the soldiers on the hill spun as the first round clipped his shoulder, causing his arm to be blown off at the joint, a second simply dropped to his knees, the bolter round having punched clean through his skull tearing his head from his shoulders. The las-fire faltered as the troops on top of the hill realised the severity of their situation. The break in the fire gave me an opportunity to take out another one of the soldiers, the bolt pistol barked and a barbarian flew backwards a hole punched clean through the middle of his chest.

Suddenly las gun fire whizzed past me, coming from somewhere behind me. I dived to one side, spinning in the process and coming up on one knee ready to slaughter the new attackers when I realised it was the army squad following me. Their zeal impressed me; I had expected them to all have turned tail and run back to the camp as soon as the enemy fire started. Clearly they were going to be more useful than originally thought. I turned back to the barbarians on top of the hill and realised that they were suddenly very preoccupied with returning fire to the army troops shooting at them, rather than trying to take down the massive Astartes running around. I sprinted to the hill and then started scrabbling up one side of it. The barbarians were still focused on the troops when I managed to reach the top, giving me a perfect element of surprise.

I leapt over the last stretch of the hill and picked up a barbarian, using him as a meat shield. He screamed and squirmed in my grip, but I held him fast.

"It's a Thunder warrior! KILL HIM!" one of the barbarians shouted and suddenly all the las-fire was aimed at me again. I could count five troops still alive on this hill top, and all of them were very much focused on me. "OPEN FIRE!" the same man screamed. Two of them instantly started shooting, including the man bellowing orders, but the other three hesitated, not wanting to hit their comrade. I helped them with their decision of whether to kill a friend or disobey an order by swatting the two men shooting at me away with the now limp body of the barbarian in my hands, then tossing it away with a simple flick of my wrist. Before the remaining three could even raise their rifles I had closed the distance between me and them. I raised my free hand and brought my elbow crashing down on the head closest to me, causing it to shatter, then with my bolter I turned and blasted away the other two with a single bullet. The bolt exploded just before exiting the first man and sprayed the second with shrapnel. The force of blast blew him onto the ground where he lay coughing and spluttering. I towered over to him, a pang of sorrow for the mortal bubbling up in my chest.

"Why are you doing this to us?" he coughed, his words garbled by the blood frothing from his mouth.

"Because the Emperor wills it," I replied, not wanting to drag out this man's suffering any more than necessary. The man laughed then hacked up a load more blood, staining the front of his flack armour.

"You mark my words Thunder Warrior. Your precious Imperium won't last. Someone will become dissatisfied with the emperor, and when that happens all hell will break loose across the galaxy," he vomited up a load more blood, each word obviously paining him. "I've warned you Warrior, your Emperors arrogance will cause the Imperium to burn, and the galaxy will burn with it." As soon as the last word left his mouth I levelled my bolter and blew his head off. The words that he spoke were treacherous, but he was a barbarian, he couldn't know any better. His words stuck in my mind though. If the imperium was being founded on violence, what could possibly be in store for it besides more violence? And what would happen when we have nothing left to conquer? No I cast out the thoughts from my mind. The Emperor is good, The Emperor is powerful and can never be cast down.

My thoughts were interrupted by new cracks of las-fire. I felt the heat of one as it seared past my helmet. Rage boiled up in my veins again, and I relished in the thought of more killing. I charged off to a section of woodland where the las-fire was coming from. I came up close and heard one of the men scream inside followed by the crunching of undergrowth snapping under fast retreating feet. Just one set though, impressive; these mortals had some strength after all. I darted into the trees and my visor instantly adapted to the new low level light. Soon after that it picked out a target for me. He must have seen me looking at him because he just started to turn. I grabbed him by the hair and swung him at a tree, his back making a sickening crunch as bone struck wood, and the weaker of the two broke. I threw the now limp body to one side and laughed as the las-fire suddenly stopped.

"Please! Don't kill me!" I heard a man call out, suddenly the rest were all dropping there rifles and kneeling before me.

"Where are you coming from barbarian?" I asked the closest man.

"That way Thunder Warrior. Please, have mercy," the man gestured with a trembling finger in the general direction of where his assault was coming from.

"Your assistance is noted barbarian, however there is no room in the Imperium for traitors," said, coldly, as I raised the bolter and executed the man. The rest of the soldiers got up and ran away, fleeing from the event and the ruthlessness of what they just saw. I decided to let them go; I had limited ammo after all. I flipped my bolt-pistol to one side and checked the remaining rounds. Seven rounds left, not many, but enough if each one counted.

"TROOPERS! To me!" I bellowed as I left the woodland area, trying to get the rag-tag squad of army to regroup. They did as they were ordered moving as fast as there spindly legs would carry them; they looked completely pathetic. An Astartes could have covered the distance they were sprinting across in half the time and at half the pace. They caught up in the end, and I quickly briefed them on the new plan of attack. It was simple really; they give me covering fire as I charge in and massacre them, any targets that they can take down is a bonus so long as they don't hit me. I skipped the part that if they did, I'd kill them. I grabbed a large heavy tree branch to use as a club for when I got close, I could swing it like a Thunder Hammer catching multiple targets in one wide swing.

We moved out as a single unit, but the distance between all of us grew rapidly. Over the brow of the second hill I saw a small encampment. A few tents, surrounding a camp fire, nothing major. As I drew close I suddenly saw the weaponry they had: Las-weapons, plasma guns, heavy bolters, plasma cannons; the works. How did barbarians get that level of gear? It didn't matter though, most of it was too large for them to carry seeing as the majority of it came off tanks and mounted gun positions. The plasma guns concerned me the most though, they could burn through a Thunder Warriors armour in a second.

I pushed the doubts from my mind, it mattered not. I had made a promise to strike back at the Emperors foes with all my might and that was reason enough to fill me with courage.

I stood tall and proud on top of my hill and bellowed at the top of my lungs "FOR THE EMPEROR!" my club raised high above my head. And with that I charged down the hill towards the encampment. A few barbarians made their way out of the camp and took up defensive positions, but I was too fast. I crashed into them and they broke like limestone against a tsunami. Two of them were trampled underfoot, another fell prey to the swing of my makeshift club. One started running but I bolted him down in a second. The two remaining barbarians suddenly dropped, felled by the squad's las-fire. Seeing the new weaponry gave me hope, knowing that I could use it while the enemy could not. I glanced at a heavy bolter and could see it was loaded. I saw one of the mortars that were pounding the Emperors camp. I raised my bolt pistol, realising that I had no more need for it with the sudden arsenal of weaponry. I let the bolt pistol bark in my hands until it clicked empty. The three barbarians manning the mortar team fell, each one with two huge holes punched in them. One team down, god knows how many to be. I ran over to where I saw the heavy bolter lying and hefted it up, holding it tight. I lumbered around the camp, spraying tents and mortar entrenchments. The camp was simply smoking piles of rubble, small craters and screaming bodies by the time I was done with it. The stench of death hung heavy in the air, intertwining sweetly with scent of smoke and freshly turned earth. The squad of soldiers appeared behind me, grinning broadly.

"We won my lord..." One of them murmured. I smiled at his surprise. How could you expect any less from the Emperors Finest?


	5. 1000 hits! Authors note

Sorry that the last instalment took so long, I went on a camp and had no laptop to type on. Tragic I know. But hopefully it was worth the wait. I'm glad to see that people are actually reading this, seeing as I was worried it would slip away into nothingness but I hit 1000 hits with the update of the last instalment so it's defiantly worth it. Please don't be afraid to review, comment, or PM me. I love feed-back whether it is critical or praise as both will help to steer me in the right direction for future chapters. Also if anybody gets ideas for other stories that they would like to see (involving Tiberius or new characters) send me a message and I'll be happy to see what I can do. Also if anybody has any references to the unification wars (facts, important battles that you know of, significant characters mentioned in other Warhammer books etc.) let me know so that I can integrate it into the current story line (or a new one if it's significant enough)

Chapter 5 may take a bit longer than the rest as I have my IGCSE exams coming up, so I have to study for them. I will of course do my best to keep producing them at a regular rate so as to keep my audience happy.

As I said before I'm glad to see that people are actually reading this, and it fills me with a sense of pride to know that I've actually managed to do something, rather than just sit in my room and procrastinate.

I hope you all continue to enjoy the tales of Tiberius and the Unification Wars.

For The Emperor!


	6. Chapter 5

I decided to march my squad back, rifles held across their chest in triumph, my newly found heavy bolter held out proudly in front of me, like the tip of a mighty spear. Partly the march was to do with pride, but mostly it was to mock the Custodian Guard that I had triumphed with the lowest of help, while they with their elite training and gear had failed. The Emperor would be proud.

As I approached the Custodians I realised just how arrogant they looked. They stood with their head slightly tilted up, in a way that made it looks as if they were permanently looking down on you. Their armour was solid gold, glinting in the sunlight as the light refracted through multiple gems encased in the armour. Each one had vast pauldrons and was about a head taller than a regular proto-Astartes. They were, in all respects glorious; if it weren't for their arrogance they would be the perfect embodiment of what any creature in the universe should aspire to be.

They stood in a squad, being only a select few, surrounded by army personnel. Behind me one of the soldiers lifted his rifle and bellowed at the top of his lungs, calling out a victory cry, in response all of the soldiers surrounding the Custodians joined in. The Custodians looked angry, their faces twisting into a scowl of resentment. All of them aimed their leers directly at me, knowing that they had just been bested by an Astartes.

There was a commotion at the back of the crowd and the people separated straight down the middle and from their midst came the Emperor, his face beaming with pride. I instantly dropped down to one knee, forgetting myself and everything that he told me. As he drew closer I realised that I dropped to one knee because my knees had given out beneath me. No matter how much I saw him I couldn't get used to him. His face had high cheek bones, a wide set chiselled jaw and piercing blue eyes. His eyes felt like they were staring directly into my thoughts, as if he could read every single detail of my mind. He chuckled as he drew closer.

"Rise, my children!" he bellowed, spreading his arms wide. "There is no reason to be humble, what you have done is a service to the Imperium and me. You are our saviours, and you, one and all, deserve to be honoured. So rise, and never again kneel before anyone." I grinned broadly from ear to ear at these words, amazed by the way he caused me to swell with pride, it was unnatural that any being could make an Astartes feel this way. I looked around and the soldiers were grinning too. The custodians on the other hand were not. As we all stood up a round of applause exploded from the surrounding crowds, even the Custodians clapped save for Herdoxitand; he stood there with a gruff look on his face, scowling horribly at me, as if his eyes were trying to melt my power armour.

The crowds dissipated around us and slowly people got back to their work around the camp. The Emperor strode up to me and clapped me with a large mailed hand on my shoulder. It took a fair amount of effort not to stagger forward. He chuckled and put his arm around me. I felt dwarfed by his might, no matter how many times he said that he was nothing special, I could feel the power emanating from him.

"I have a surprise for you, Tiberius." The Emperor told me, and extended a mailed, golden gauntlet out in front of him to reveal the beaming face of Julianos. Immediately the two of us charged at one another and locked into an embrace. Julianos and I where normally never separated for long, and by my recollection this had in fact been one of the longest times we had spent apart. Normally we would be separated for assaults on barbarian tribes, but that was only down into separate fire teams. And, as was the way with the Proto-Astartes, those fire teams never usually stayed separate for long.

Julianos clapped his hand on my back and broke from the embrace, grinning broadly still.

"Congratulations on your conquest, brother," he remarked, and then in a slightly more hushed tone; "and good on you for showing up those damned Custodes." I chuckled, and I swear I heard the Emperor laugh too, though that was impossible; there was no way he could have hear Julianos' comment.

"Come now my sons," The Emperor suddenly interjected. "There will be time for the reunification of brethren later; the reunification of your home still lingers on the horizon." His words brought me back to the reality of the situation, I had heard rumours that we were now close to final unification, but hearing the Emperor say so filled me with hope. Soon our conquest of Terra would come to a close, and we could set about reclaiming the galaxy in the name of the Emperor.

"Tell us what you would have us do my liege." I said turning to face him once more. Julianos stood beside me, standing as though his back were pressed against a wall. The Emperor turned and began to walk towards his command tent. Julianos and I followed, though it was obvious that Julianos was still largely unsettled by the Emperor's presence.

The Emperor walked over to a large map of Terra, a grand portion of it was now covered by gold, signifying these lands were under the control of the Imperium; however large portions of it were still clearly under the control of the techno-barbarians. Hy Brazil was one of the most noticeable ones, along with the Nordafrik Conclaves and the large area of The Kingdom of Urartu. You kept hearing horror stories from these 3 fronts. The Siege of the Wall surrounding the major cities of Hy Brazil was not going how anyone expected it to. What was meant to be a clean sweep operation lasting maybe a month at most had now been drawn out into a full on and lengthy siege of the wall, with the Imperium suffering high numbers of Casualties with little to no success. The stories from the Afrik fronts were just as concerning, the barbarians were technologically advance and were heavily dug in wherever the Imperium tried to launch an assault. The assaults on the Kingdom of Urartu where going no better, and in some places the imperium were being pushed back. The barbarians, whilst not advanced in the slightest, had vast numbers and were completely devoted to the defence of their realm to the point where it could be described as maniacal. The most concerning reports though were the unofficial ones, the ones whispered around the camps at night that spoke of dark powers and evil magic being used by the latter two of the Techno-Barbarian states. Soldiers spoke of men that could conjure up storms with the wave of their hand, and warriors who were twisted and warped into all manner of gruesome forms. Some of them sounded too disturbing to be real. Although, as with all rumours, I remained sceptical. When we launched the assault on our assault on Albyon the soldiers claimed that their warlord would drink the blood of our soldiers; clearly nonsense.

"My children," The emperor suddenly said. "I know that it was you two that ended the assault on Franc. I was hoping you could do the same again in Hy Brazil." Julianos and I stood there, dumbfounded with no logical response. Ending the Francish Tribe had been relatively simple, the resistance had been minimal, they were unorganised and had very old equipment, the Hy Brazilians are the complete opposite. Well armed, well armoured and well organised, the Hy Brazilians are one of the toughest armies the Imperium had faced to date. Their walls appeared to be nigh on impenetrable too, and any attempt to get close was met by fierce shelling. How exactly the emperor thought that two thunder warriors could change the tide of battle was beyond me. Eventually Julianos piped up. "My liege, I'm confused, how do you plan on us two ending the Siege, we are but two humble warriors." The Emperor looked up from the map, a small crooked grin on his face, as if he was concocting an evil master plan.

"That," he murmured. "Is the best part." He waved his hand and a servitor rolled into the room carrying a holo-projector. It rolled up to the side of the table and activated the projector, revealing what looked like a slowly rotating tear drop.

"My children feast your eyes on the future of warfare, the drop pod." The emperor said, marvel dripping from his voice. "It will allow troops to be dropped directly into the heart of fighting with minimal casualties. It will also allow for surprise attacks and rapid deployment of reinforcements."

Whilst I thought this new technology was impressive, I failed, at that moment to see what importance it was to us, though when I glanced over at Julianos the nervous look on his face told me he had worked it out.

"I want you two, along with a squad of my finest to be the first to try it out." The Emperor stated. My face dropped. The idea of being dropped from the sky in a hunk of metal straight into one of the strongest cities on Terra did not appeal to me. Neither did the prospect of working with a squad who I would presumably never have heard of. And, chances are, for a mission like this they would probably be Custodes. Not something I was looking forward too.

The Emperor continued: "You will be flow, by Stormbird, in a low orbital route to above Hy Brazil, where you should remain outside of the range of the AA servitors. Once you are above the main power generators for the city you will be dropped, by drop pod, into the heart of the power plant. Once inside you will be tasked with spreading out and causing enough damage to cause the plant to shut down. Our engineers estimate there will be at least a 30 second window before the backup generators come online, during that time the city will be completely undefended. When the defences go in my forces will move in and take the city. The 30 seconds will be enough for the forces to move inside the walls. Once inside they will be able to take the city from the defending forces."

The plan sounded insanely risky, with the entire thing being based on the idea that a small group of Astartes could take and destroy a power plant guarded by some of the finest troops on Terra. Before I could voice my concerns though, Julianos decided to speak his mind.

"My Emperor, it would be an honour. Hy Brazil will be yours by the end of the week." He was on one knee with his head bowed in subjection. The Emperor grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Just as it should be Julianos" he laughed. "Now go, return to Franc, the armourers will outfit you with the necessary equipment, you will also meet your battle brothers so you can organise your assault. Tiberius, you will head the fire team. Go, there's a Rhino waiting to take you to Franc." Julianos and I turned and made our way to the transport that was waiting outside. I wasn't sure I was comfortable with being in charge of Astartes. Being in charge of humans is simple; an Astartes is naturally superior to them. I had never felt particularly superior amongst my battle brothers though. I was usually satisfied with being another line trooper. I wouldn't mind being in charge of a fire team when assaulting a small barbarian camp, especially when there are lots of other troops around. If I screwed up it wouldn't put the entire assault on the line. In this situation there was no room for error. If our team didn't take out this generator then who knew how much longer the siege would go on. These thoughts plagued me all the way to franc and up until we met the fire team. There were six of us all together, all Proto-Astartes which I was grateful for; had there been Custodians I doubt I would have been able to focus properly.

Our plan was simple; we would split up into pairs and each target a key component of the power plant. One pair, comprised of Adamus and Felix would target the safeties, the cooling vents, the anti-flood ducts, and so on. The second pair, Ezekiel and Georgius would target the control room, taking out any of the important computers for controlling the plant and in the process killing the majority of the key personnel of the plant. The final pair, Julianos and I, would target the reactor itself. We were laden down with heavier weaponry than normal. Each of us had a melta-bomb strapped to our sides, we all had four grenades, our standard issue bolters and each of us had a power sword. We were all also granted a plasma pistol side arm, an impressive honour for one of us, but the fact that all of us had one was unprecedented.

The trip to Hy Brazil in the Stormbird was tense and uncomfortable. Other than Julianos and me none of us particularly knew each other. We all knew what was at stake, and just how challenging this mission would be. At the same time we were all looking forward to getting Hy Brazil finally under the control of the Imperium. It had defied us too long and had caused us too many problems. It was a dangerous mission, practically suicide, but the rewards far outweighed the consequences. That and we were all terrified by the prospect of dropping into enemy territory in nothing but a small metal tear drop.

The pilot's voice screeched through the intercom, alerting us that there was 1 minute till the drop zone. We all got up and made our way to the drop pod, clearly anticipating the battle to come. We strapped ourselves into the grav harnesses whilst servitors whirred around finalising the launch procedures. At last, the pitch of the engines changed as the Stormbird entered hover mode. The doors closed and there was a hiss from the pneumatic doors beneath the pod. There were a few moments before the pod was release from its moorings. The feeling was incredible.

There was a moment of weightlessness as the pod detached, and then the thrusters kicked in. The amount of G-force was incredible. The only thing keeping us all from being crushed was the combination of the grav harnesses and our gene-enhanced forms.

The drop was meant to last about 30 seconds. The first ten seconds were an incredible rush, then the next ten were spent preparing our minds for battle. Then the warning sirens sounded as we were targeted by the AA servitors. We heard the gunfire speeding around and above us, but their targeting matrices weren't programmed to deal with something traveling at this speed.

Then the pod jerked violently as it hammered through the roof of the plant, and then came to an incredibly sudden and abrupt halt which jarred my spine.

Then the doors flew open.


End file.
